THIS DATE IN HISTORY: Feb. 3
1944: Syd Howe scores six goals in the Detroit Red Wings’ 12-2 victory against the New York Rangers at Olympia Stadium. Howe gets two in each period. Linemate Don Grosso assists on five of the six goals.
“I had a good chance to break the all-time record but I couldn’t do it,” Howe says, referring to the seven goals scored by Joe Malone for the Quebec Bulldogs on Jan. 31, 1920.
Howe is the first player to score six goals in a game since Cy Denneny of the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 7, 1921. Since Howe’s historic night, Red Berenson of the St. Louis Blues (Nov. 7, 1968) and Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs (Feb. 7, 1976) have scored six goals in a game.
1968: The Montreal Canadiens win 5-1 against the Los Angeles Kings at the Forum for their 12th consecutive victory, still a team record. Jean Beliveau leads the Canadiens by scoring one goal and assisting on two others.
1977: Richie Hansen becomes the first Long Island resident to score a goal for the New York Islanders. Hansen was born in Bronx, New York, but grew up in Northport on Long Island. The goal comes midway through the third period in the Islanders’ 6-3 win against the New York Rangers at Nassau Coliseum.
1982: Grant Mulvey becomes the first player in Chicago Blackhawks history to score five goals in a game. Mulvey scores four goals in the first period and one in the third of a 9-5 win against the Blues at Chicago Stadium. Mulvey also has two assists for a seven-point game, tying the team record set by Max Bentley on Jan. 28, 1943.
1998: Dino Ciccarelli becomes the ninth NHL player to score 600 goals. He scores a power-play goal with 5:09 remaining in the third period to give the Florida Panthers a 1-1 tie against the visiting Red Wings.
1999: The Washington Capitals set NHL records by scoring eight goals in 9:34 during the second period and nine goals in 11:32 (including 1:18 of the third period) in a 10-1 win against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. Peter Bondra scores two goals in 35 seconds and three in 4:47 during the outburst.
2000: Bob Pulford of the Blackhawks becomes the first person in NHL history to coach 800 games in the League after playing in 800 NHL games. The milestone comes in a 5-5 tie against the Calgary Flames.
2015: The Buffalo Sabres end a 14-game losing streak (0-14-0) with a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre. Drew Stafford, Matt Moulson and Brian Gionta score first-period goals, and Jhonas Enroth makes 32 saves. The losing streak is one shy of the third-longest in NHL history, 15 games by the Philadelphia Quakers during the 1930-31 season.
